Tag: North Korea

by Richard Cameron The South China Morning Post reported on Sunday that the mainland Chinese authoritarian one party state will accede – essentially rubber stamp Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expressed intention of assuming dictator for life status. They quoted the Chinese government’s official state media’s editorial organ, China Daily, on the subject: “Over the past two decades, a trinity of leadership consisting of the CPC Central Committee general secretary, president of the nation and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission has taken shape and proven to be effective.…

by Richard Cameron The New York Times Michael Schmidt’s impromptu interview with President Donald Trump at his Trump International golf club in West Palm Beach was evidence that Trump has not developed any new habits of embracing facts, grasping reality or curbing his instinct to loiter around absurd and unfounded pretensions. The audience that the unscripted interview was intended for, as all of them are – is Trump’s continuously shrinking political base. Schmidt apparently was of the view that employing open ended questions colloquially known as “softballs”, would cause…

by Richard Cameron SEOUL, South Korea The South Korean Military and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCOS) are reporting that earlier on Monday, a North Korean soldier thought to have been stationed near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), defected to South Korea. The soldier was fired upon by North Korean patrols as he attempted to negotiate his way through guard stations (see photo left) and across the DMZ to the South Korean side. The area where the defection took place was in Panmunjom in North Hwanghae Province, where the armistice…

by Richard Cameron In response to a letter sent him by two Congressional Democrats, Representatives Ted Lieu of California and Ruben Gallego of Arizona – a top Pentagon official stated that nothing short of an actual ground invasion of North Korea, would put a complete halt to the nuclear weapons program of dictator Kim Jong-Un. Rear Admiral Michael J Dumont, in his answer to the legislators, told them that: “A classified briefing would be the best place to discuss in detail the capability of the US and its allies to…

by Richard Cameron Trump’s Runaway Presidency The standard metaphor for anything that is going “south”, that is to say, badly wrong, is a speeding train hopping the rails – an impending train wreck. Since it is so overworked and such a cliché, perhaps we should opt for another analogy to the Donald Trump presidency – the runaway semi-tractor trailer. In this one, the president is the owner-operator of the bigly rig and the rig is the Office of the Presidency and the contents of the trailer is the stability and…

by Richard Cameron I’ve seen a lot of angry people expressing their outrage about football players kneeling during the anthem. I respect their right to their viewpoint, while at the same time, I don’t share it. Donald Trump, predictably, got in the middle of this, seeing in it another opportunity to exploit the anger of his remaining base voters. At a rally in Alabama, Trump juiced up the crowd with, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say: ‘Get that…

by Richard Cameron Communication Breakdown – it’s always the same… Since Trump’s swearing in as president, he has consistently issued public messages, mostly through social media avenues that contradict those of his cabinet officials and even the men and women in the White House communications office, whose task it is to disseminate orderly and consonant information to the public through the press, radio and television. This week has been remarkable in that respect. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson reported that he had embarked on a diplomatic initiative involving private talks…

by Richard Cameron On August 9th, President Trump, during a visit to his Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster, NJ, made the statement that: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen… he has been very threatening beyond a normal state. They will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.” Things were quiet for about a week and half, from the…

by Richard Cameron SINGAPORE Early Monday – at 5:24AM Malaysia time, the USS John S. McCain – a guided missile destroyer was involved in a collision with a Liberian registered oil tanker, resulting in extensive damage to the Navy vessel and the status of 10 sailors of the destroyer’s crew unaccounted for at the time the incident was first reported. The McCain was on the way through the Malacca Strait, headed for a port visit in Singapore, when the collision occurred between it and the AlnicMC. First photo of damaged…

by Richard Cameron WASHINGTON, D.C. – As has been tumbling vigorously in the Beltway rumor mill and outside of it for close to a month, White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon has been fired by Donald Trump – as confirmed by White House Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders. “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” Sanders said in a statement. That’s the White House version. Unofficial reports…